“Part of the middle class promise is that, after a lifetime of hard work, you’ll be able to retire and enjoy the fruits of that labor.”

Well, a lot of politics is communicating with people, and obviously comedy has something to do with that.

I think if you’re going to do a movie about Reagan, you do it about the fact that he created the huge deficit.

My parents didn’t make a lot of money. My dad was not a high school graduate.

Anybody who deliberately propagandizes with lies should be held up to scorn and ridicule.

My dad always told me to stand up to bullies, and Bill O’Reilly is kind of a bully, and he’s the kind of kid who hits other kids on the playground.

I grew up in Minnesota, where we treasure our tradition of civic engagement – and our record of having the nation’s highest voter participation.

I’m angry at the right wing media. And by that I don’t mean the media is right wing.

I’m crushed by the responsibility of writing a satirical book.

It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.

I’ve spent my entire career being a satirist.

To ask whether the mainstream media has a conservative or liberal bias is like asking whether al-Qaida uses too much oil in their hummus. It’s – I think they might use too much oil in their hummus – but it’s the wrong question.

Oh, no, you’re kidding.’ I go, ‘No, I’m really honest.’

When a company is able to establish a dominant market position, consumers lose meaningful choices.

This is something I learned only too well years ago when I did a fundraiser for Pol Pot. A few years later I saw ‘The Killing Fields,’ and I’ve got to tell you, I just felt like a schmuck.

At ‘SNL,’ I wrote political stuff, but I never felt the show should have an axe to grind. But when I left in ’95, I could let my own beliefs out.

As a source of innovation, an engine of our economy, and a forum for our political discourse.

You work so hard at something to make sure that it’s very pure and very genuine and very steadfast to who you are, so creative control for me is a big one.

My characters say things to each other that I get accused of not being able to say to my girlfriend.

But we have these problems in our region, and nobody has been able to resolve them.

Just like surface-to-air missiles in Afghanistan were able to change the balance of power there.

I’m just a giant film fan, so I love action movies out of all kinds of movies. As a film geek, it’s amazing to be able to shoot this stuff.

Most of what was released has always been garbage and some has been able to get through and last.

You have to be able to fail with the improv. You have to not care.

I need to be able to explain myself in context.